Toddlers’ Use of Gesture and Speech in Service of Emotion Regulation During Distressing Routines

Abstract

Research on the intersections of young children's emerging communication skills and emotion regulation has increased, following recognition of the link between these skills as they emerge in toddlerhood and the long‐term impact of these skills on academic success. However, little is known about how toddlers use gesture and emerging language for emotion regulation. The current study describes toddlers’ use of both words and gestures in naturally occurring distressing routines in childcare (diaper change, separation from parents). Seventeen toddlers between 11 and 28 months old were observed over the course of 3½ months in a childcare setting where symbolic gestures (“infant signs”) were used as part of daily routines. Results show that toddlers communicated more frequently using gestures than speech, and used a greater range of self‐regulatory strategies through gesture than through speech. Moreover, older, verbal toddlers continued to use gestures during heightened distress when they could not find their words. Findings suggest that toddlers use symbolic communication to implement complex and diverse emotion regulation strategies during distressing daily routines, and that gestures provide children with opportunities to employ more diverse emotion regulation strategies than does speech alone, which may ultimately enhance children's abilities to regulate their emotions.

The Construction of Executive Function in Early Development: The Pragmatics of Action and Gestures

“…Self-directed symbolic gestures have also been identified. Konishi et al (2018) found that children between 11 and 27 months used symbolic gestures during their routines in a childcare situation (diaper change and separation from parents) to self-regulate their emotions. Rodríguez (2009) referred to the case of Elisa, who was part of a longitudinal study.…”

“…At the end of their first year, children start to communicate intentionally with others through gestures (Bates et al, 1979;Butterworth, 2003;Tomasello, 1999), which include pointing gestures, symbolic and ostensive gestures of giving and showing (Carpendale et al, 2021). By then, as shown above, they already produce self-directed gestures: private pointing gestures (Delgado et al, 2010), self-directed symbolic gestures (Konishi et al, 2018;Rodríguez, 2009) and private ostensive gestures (Dupertuis & Moro, 2016;Guevara et al, 2020;Moreno-Núñez et al, 2020;Moro et al, 2015). Furthermore, analysing self-directed gestures can shed a lot of light on how children resolve their difficulties.…”

“…They positively evaluated themselves with applauses and with private pointing gestures after achieving their objectives. It has been shown that self-directed gestures (Español & Rivière, 2000;Konishi et al, 2018) are effective instruments of self-regulation.…”